According to a report, one out of five school-going children is bullied by their peers, and 41% of the victims feared it would happen again.
Bullying is a persistent act intended to make life unpleasant for another person. It is a situation where the relationship involves an imbalance of power. This act is detrimental to children on both sides of the exchange. It causes physical and emotional harm and even triggers mental illness. Unfortunately, children are too young to exhibit resilience to the complicated psychological trauma that results in adverse effects that can be lifelong.
As a school, we take issues bordering on bullying seriously because we understand its negative effect and any reported or observed case receives full disciplinary actions. Moreso, the School’s Board of Directors and Management operate zero-tolerance to bullying to protect students from its grave consequences. Aside from bullying, we also give the deserved attention to peer pressure because both are major threats to the wellbeing of teenagers.
Here are some important steps we are taking as a school to eradicate bullying:
• As part of our curriculum, students are taught to identify bullying language, and actions in themselves and others. We believe this knowledge will help create a more positive environment where bullying is less likely to occur.
• At Premiere Academy there is a system in place where students report any bullying case and get immediate help. Furthermore, any student caught in the act of bullying is sanctioned according to the Academy’s guidelines as outlined by the School’s Anti-bully Committee and the Students’ Handbook. Beyond punishment and sanction, we deem it necessary to understand the psychology of the bully to discover what motivates and drives them into the act. Through this, we get a better grasp of the kind of measures or discipline to be meted to address the issue.
• We have introduced regular classroom discussions for students to talk about social issues outside academics to help teachers stay informed about what is going on and support them.
• We engage parents and professionals to educate and help develop our students’ social skills such as assertiveness, training, cultural awareness, empathy, respect, appropriate responses, and choices. With these, we believe that it will help them make better, more positive choices and to become the school's partners in eliminating bullying. Our goal is to raise students that are effective communicators, world-class citizens, critical thinkers, well-disciplined and well-behaved students in a bully-free environment.
• We have an effective Guidance and Counselling Unit that helps to create a safe place for students to develop character and help students who are being bullied.
As part of our commitment to zero bullying in school, Premiere Academy organises an Annual Anti-bullying Week. This year’s theme is; "One kind word" to educate, raise awareness and prevent bullying through various activities such as talk shows, drama, etc.
In summary, we will keep promoting discipline, civility, diversity, inclusion, equity, uniqueness and equality to sensitize our students about the downside of being a bully and the future benefits of proper behaviour.